From the previous active suspension design, some failures I
see include having 3 tubes being connected to one spot. This creates a lot of
stress on just that one little spot, this is important to note because that
could be the difference from the super way moving to its destination and
falling to the ground. It even shows in their finite element analysis that
there is so much stress being applied to where the 3 rods are being connected.
If I could fix this design, I would make sure the rods separated and not
connected to one spot which will allow for the stress to be distributed equally to the parts holding it. I understand that they were trying to make it as compact
as possible, but safety comes first before anything.
One aspect I did like was their vibration isolation system
that they calculated and showed that an under damp system is the most effective.
Since they have springs carrying the cabin, they will have a displacement
between them once a certain amount of passengers are inside. Therefore for them
to have an effective active suspension, they need a self-leveling system
otherwise their design will be useless.
Another feature I liked from last year’s design is that it
was a futuristic design, which makes it look nice. It will make people want to
ride it when everything is said and done. I also liked the fact that they
looked at other suspension railways from all over the world and tried to take
what they thought was a good idea from each one and tried to combine it altogether in
the super way project.
